1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an apparatus and method for testing automatic vehicular transmissions. More specifically, this invention relates to an apparatus which enables a large variety of transmissions to be installed therein and subjected to a test procedure designed to test substantially all of the individual components of the transmission.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Presently there exists a need in the automotive transmission repair industry to provide a means for fully and accurately testing a vehicular transmission to determine whether the transmission is operating in the manner in which the manufacturer thereof intended it to operate. Specifically, in the case of automotive transmissions, the state of the art method for repairing the transmission comprises removing the transmission from the vehicle and disassembling all of the components of the transmission in an attempt to locate the defective component. After the defective component is located and repaired, the transmission is then reassembled and installed into the vehicle. The vehicle is road tested to roughly determine whether the transmission operates according to manufacturer's specifications. It is apparent that disassembling the entire transmission to hopefully locate the defective component is laborious and consequently tremendously expensive to the owner of the vehicle. Moreover, whether the mechanic actually did repair all of the defective components cannot be determined until the transmission is reinstalled in the vehicle and road tested. If further repairs are needed, the transmission must again be removed from the vehicle and disassembled.
In order to reduce the possibility of having to twice remove, disassemble, repair and install the transmission in the vehicle, various transmission testers have been designed. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 2,918,822 discloses an apparatus for testing automatic transmissions having the torque converter or fluid coupling removed. Specifically, the apparatus comprises a drive motor which is splined to the turbine shaft, stator shaft and pump shaft of the transmission being tested. Each of the shafts are selectively rotated to hopefully test the components of the test transmission. Unfortunately, the apparatus is limited in the types of transmissions which may be tested. No provision is made for testing the transmission with the torque converter or fluid coupling installed nor is provision made for enabling a large variety of test transmissions to be easily installed in the apparatus without making substantial changes in the structure of the apparatus. Moreover, as the test transmission is subjected to the test procedure, the operator of the apparatus can only visually check the operation of the test transmission. No feature is provided to eliminate the subjectiveness of the test procedure. Accordingly, the results of the test procedure very heavily depends upon the competency of the operator, with standardization being almost impossible to achieve.
Therefore it is an object of this invention to provide an apparatus and method which overcomes the aforementioned inadequacies of the prior art devices and provides an improvement which is a significant contribution to the advancement of the transmission testing art.
Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide an apparatus and method for testing vehicular transmissions which include a means for automatically subjecting the transmission to a test procedure and automatically determining whether the results of the test procedure occurred within prescribed limits set by the manufacturer of the transmission.
Another object of this invention is to provide an apparatus and method for testing vehicular transmissions which includes a drive means which variably rotates the input of the transmission being tested.
Another object of this invention is to provide an apparatus and method for testing vehicular transmissions which enables a load means which selectively subjects the output of the transmission to varying amounts of torque during the test procedure.
Another object of this invention is to provide an apparatus and method for testing vehicular power transmissions which includes an input adjustment means and an output adjustment means which enable a large variety of transmissions to be installed into the apparatus.
Another object of this invention is to provide an apparatus and method for testing vehicular transmissions which includes a means for inverting the transmission to facilitate the repair of the transmission.
Another object of this invention is to provide an apparatus and method for testing vehicular transmissions which includes a brake mechanism which, when actuated, prevents the output of the transmission from rotating thereby facilitating the testing of the transmission in reverse gear.
Another object of this invention is to provide an apparatus and method for testing vehicular transmissions which includes a solenoid lock mechanism which prevents the housing of the transmission from rotating while the input of the test transmission is rotated.
The foregoing has outlined some of the more pertinent objects of the invention. These objects should be construed to be merely illustrative of some of the more prominent features and applications of the intended invention. Many other beneficial results can be attained by applying the disclosed invention in a different manner or modifying the invention within the scope of the disclosure. Accordingly, other objects and a fuller understanding of the invention may be had by referring to the summary of the invention and the detailed description describing the preferred embodiment, in addition to the scope of the invention defined by the claims taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.